Road to UnderstandingIII
by soultaker78
Summary: Sequel to Road to UnderstandingII.  Team Phantom recovers from its latest battle as Sam learns new things about Paulina and an old enemy returns.
1. Chapter 1

Author's Notes: this story picks up exactly where the previous one left off, so be sure to read that one. The main pairing for this story is Sam/Pualina, so if you plan to flame me for writing for that pairing, at least read the story first and you're not going to read the story then leave me alone.

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The Fenton family assualt vehicle came to a screeching as it arrived at the park. Danny and his parents got out and saw that everyone was sad.

"What happened?" Danny asked.

"Danny," Tucker said to his best friend, "Ember's gone."

"Gone? You mean as in dead?"

"Yeah, or whatever the correct term is for ghosts."

"How's Sam taking it?" Danny asked, looking at the greiving goth.

"I think she needs some time to herself," Tucker said, and then walked towards the specter speeder. Everyone else then left to send their defeated enemies into the ghost zone, leaving Sam to her sorrows.

Sam was kneeling on the ground, crying her eyes out. She and Ember had not been together long, but the undead rocker showed Sam more affection than anyone she had met before. She was pretty sure that she had not loved Ember, but that didn't make the pain hurt less.

Paulina came out of her hiding place, walked up to Sam, kelt down and hugged the goth. She was crying as well.

"Pualina?" Sam said as she realized that she was being hugged by one of her least favourite people. "What are you doing here?"

"I saw you and that ghost girl kissing before she disapeared," Pualina said. "It reminded me of my dead sister."

"But why are you hugging me?"

"Because I'm sad, and you're sad too. I'm not sure if hugging will make the sadness go away, but it can't hurt."

"All right, but are you doing this for me or for you?"

"This is for me as well you. Can I ask you something?" Paulina said and Sam nodded yes. "What was the deal with you and that ghost girl?"

"If you must know, the two of us were dating," Sam answered. "I would really apreciate it if you forgot you saw that."

"Okay," Pualina said and the two silently hugged for several minuets, gradualy coming to a stop with their crying. "I want to try something to take our minds off of this."

"What did you have in mind?" Sam asked as she stood up.

"A bet," Pualina said as she stood up as well. "I'll try dressing goth like, and you try dressing normal for tomorow. Whoever pulls off dressing in the style different than they normally dress in best will get a reasonable favor from the loser."

"Sounds good. I accept your challenge."

Paulina then scribbled something onto a peice of paper and handed it to Sam. "Meet me here tomorow so we can settle the bet."

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At the Fenton's lab, all of Danny's ghost allies left for their homes in the ghost zone and everyone else was preparing to send their captured enemies away.

"Everyone," Michael said, "there is something I think we need to discuss."

"What's that?" Danny asked.

"I think we need to find out who convinced all these ghosts to attack us, and make an example out of him."

"You mean kill him?" Tucker asked and Michael nodded yes. "Isn't that a bit trastic?"

"Perhaps, but we've lost Ember and the city has suffered a great deal of collataral damage. If we simply release whoever oranized this attack, he'll just cause another one. Besides, we need to send a message to the residents of the ghost zone thant we will not tolerate an attack of this magnitude."

Everyone thought over this for a while. While Michael's suggestion was grim, they knew that drastic times called for drastic measures.

"You've convinced me," Danny said. "But how do we find out who organized this attack?"

"Oh, I have an idea," Michael said and held up his Fenton thermos. "Johnny 13 is in here. I'll let him out and we'll intemidate him into telling us what we want to know."

Michael opened his Fenton thermos and Johnny 13 came out, but had ecto blasts pointed at him from various directions. The biker ghost held up his hands in the traditional sign of surrender.

"What do you guys want?" Johnny 13 asked.

"We want to know who organized this latest attack on the human world," Michael said.

"What's in it for me?"

"We won't beat the crap out of you before sending you back to the ghost zone."

"In that case, Skulker was the one who rounded most of us up. Now, can I leave before you people change your minds about beating me up?"

"Sure," Michael said and pointed to the Fenton's portal and Johnny 13 walked through it. "Which one of you has Skulker?"

"I do," Tucker said and held up his Fenton thermos. "And Fortunately for us, he's not in his armor. Now, who is going to kill him?"

"I'm not going to do it," Danny said, "and I want to make it clear that we are not going to make execution a routine practice."

"I understand, Danny, which is why I will do the grim deed," Michael said. Tucker released Skulker from the Fenton thermos and Michael lept forward and stuck one of his kunai knives into the amphibian spirit. Skulker then disapeared from existence.


	2. Chapter 2

It was the day following the massive attack, and Mr. Lancer was calling roll in one of his classes. Everything was going without interruption, until he came across one particular name. "Sam Manson," he said.

"Here," the girl replied.

"Memoirs of a geisha!" the english teacher exclaimed. The girl he was looking at was not what he expected. The normally dark dressed teen had short blonde hair, green eyes and was wearing a green t-shirt with blue jeans.

"What?" Sam said, sounding indignant.

"Um, nothing," Lancer stammered.

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Several hours later, it was lunch time at Casper high and Sam had gathered to eat with Danny, Tucker, Valerie, and Michael. They were all looking at her strangely.

"Sam," Danny said, "are you all right?"

"Yes," she said, "and if you're wondering why I'm dressing so ungoth-like, I'm currently in the middle of a bet."

"What kind of bet?" Michael asked, and Sam told them about her meeting with Pualina the previous day.

"Okay, but why did you change your hair and eye color?" Tucker asked.

"Oh, this my natural hair and eye color," Sam said, and everyone widened their eyes in shock. "I would have told you sooner, but it never came up."

"I guess I shouldn't be that surprised," Danny said. "I mean, your parents have blonde and red hair, so you couldn't possibly have natural black hair. As for your eyes, no one as lilac colored irises."

"Sorry to disappoint you, Sam, but it looks like you just lost the bet," Valerie said and pointed towards Pualina. The latina was wearing a black t-shirt with black pants, both with pink strips along the sides. She still had her normal pink hair clips, but also a day glow orange skull choker. She also had black makeup on the sides of her eyes in the shape of a butterfly.

"Crap, I hate it when I lose," Sam said, admitting defeat.

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School was out, and Sam was going to meet Pualina at their predetermined meeting place to discuss the outcome of their bet. They were meeting at a cemetery, and Sam saw Paulina standing in front of one of the graves. Both of them were still in the clothes they selected for the bet. Sam walked over to Pualina and looked at the grave they were standing in front of.

Maria Sanchez

1985-1999

loving daughter and sister

"Is this the sister you talked about yesterday?" Sam asked.

"Si," Paulina replied. "I hadn't thought about her in months before yesterday. I was only seven when she died."

"How did she die? If you don't mind me asking."

"Its all right. She got really sick. I was visiting her in the hospital when she died. But before that happened, she told me to be happy."

Sam let this story run through her head. She had never imagined that something like that had happened to Pualina. Her sister's last words reminded Sam of the last words she received from Ember.

"So, Paulina," Sam said, "since you've won our bet, what do you want?"

"Before we get to that, I have a confession I need to make," Pualina said, then faced Sam and gave her a peck on the lips. "I'm bi."

"What?" Sam said, eyes widening in shock.

"Bisexual. It means I am attracted to both boys and girls."

"I know what it means. I'm bi too, but the thought of you being bi had never occurred to me."

"I know what you mean. For a long time, I thought I could ignore my attraction to other girls and it would just go away, but it never did."

"While this is all very informative Pualina, what does it have to do with our bet?"

"What I want from you for winning our bet, Sam, is one date."

"Okay. But why me. You could get any guy or girl you wanted, but why do you want a date with me?"

Pualina thought about this for a moment before responding. "What I saw yesterday reminded me of my sister's last words. Despite my best efforts, I am not as happy as I think I could be. So I want to branch out, and pursue possibilities that I have not. Part of that is dating people different than what I have been going after."

"All right," Sam said.

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In the ghost zone, Danny had gone to Clockwork's citadel to speak with the ghost of time and deposit the crown of fire for safe keeping. He arrived at his destination and approached the temporal spirit.

"Clockwork, first I want to thank you for your help with the battle yesterday. It was really appreciated," Danny said then pulled out the crown of fire. "If its not too much to ask for, could you hang on to this and keep out of the wrong hands?"

"Of course Danny," Clockwork said, then took the flaming headpiece. "I have news regarding the evil version of you from that alternate timeline."

"He didn't break out, did he?"

"No. He has ceased to exist."

"Now I'm confused," Danny said and placed his hands on his head in a sign of frustration. "Why would he cease to exist now, and not back when I changed history?

"Allow me to explain. He did not cease to exist when you changed history because as long as you still lived, you could become him and he had the potential to exist. But you must remember that he was a combination of your ghost self and the ghost self of Vlad Masters."

"Now I get. When Plasmius was destroyed, I could no longer become him and he disappeared. But I'm not sure why Plasmius was destroyed in an explosion of purple fire."

"When Plasmius used the crown of fire, it gave him power but then weakened him because he was not powerful enough to use it properly. Do you understand?"

"I do. Thanks for the explanation," Danny said, then headed back to his home in the human world.


	3. Chapter 3

Five days had passed since the massive attack on the human world, and the Fright Knight had formulated a plan to get rid of Danny. He arrived at the stronghold of his first master: Pariah Dark, the king of ghosts. He was planing to release the ghost king using the skeleton key, which he took from Plasmius before he was destroyed. The ebon warrior placed the key into the sarcafacus of forever sleep, and turned it. The casket door opened, and Pariah Dark stepped out.

"I am free again!" The ghost king cried, and looked towards the Fright Knight. "My servant, are you the one who has released me this day?"

"Yes, I am," the Fright Knight said and keeled before Pariah Dark.

"Now that I am free again, I will conquer both the ghost zone and the human world," Pariah Dark said and began amassing his army of skeletal ghosts.

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Several hours later in the Fenton's basement lab, Danny and his parents were working on a new invention. It was called the ecto frame, and was basically a scaled down version of the ecto skeleton. The ecto frame was a backpack with metallic rods meant to go along a person's arms and legs and augment their natural abilities, but not as much as the ecto skeleton.

Danny currently had the ecto frame on because his parents made it for him in the quite likely event of an emergency. Danny had been given an injection of bloodstream nanobots that his mother had obtained from Axion Labs to cancel out the feed back from the frame. Everything was going well, until a ghost with black armor and black feathers came out of the ghost portal.

"ghost!" Jack cried, and brandished an ecto gun towards the new comer.

"No, dad, he's with princess Dora," Danny said, calming his father down and faced the medieval ghost. "Aren't you?"

"Yes, I am a messenger from princess Dora," he said. "I have an urgent message, Danny Phantom. The ghost king was released a few hours ago. Many ghosts have banded together to halt the advance of his forces, but we need your help to stop Pariah Dark, like you did before."

"I'll head out right away," Danny said and faced his parents. "Mom, dad, call everyone in to follow me into battle. I'm leaving right now and taking the ecto frame for a field test." Danny then flew through the portal, and headed for the ghost king's castle.

_I know the ghost king doesn't have the crown of fire because I gave that to Clockwork, so that means he only has the ring of rage _Danny thought. _But the ecto frame doesn't augment my powers as much as the ecto skeleton I used against him last time, so we should be about even. I hope._

Danny made it to Pariah Dark's fortress and saw lots of ghosts engaging the ghost king's skeletal warriors. He fired some ecto blasts at the ghost king's forces while flying past them, and made it inside the castle. He arrived in the throne room and saw a seven foot tall Pariah Dark.

"Well, if it isn't the ghost child who defeated me the last time I was freed," the ghost king said. "I am going to carve out your heart and place it on a pike in my throne room."

"We'll see about that," Danny said, and the ghost king threw his mace at Danny. Danny evaded the mace, turned around and destroyed it with an ecto blast. "I won't be falling for that one again."

While Danny had his back turned, Pariah Dark punched him in the back. When Danny recovered from the sneak attack, he looked at an electronic display on his right hand and noticed that the ecto frame was at 78 power. He then split himself into four, leaving the frame with 60 power.

One of the Dannies charged the ghost king, while two flanked and fired at him and one Danny stayed behind. The charging Danny tackled Pariah Dark in the gut. The ghost king countered by pulling out a broadsword and slashing that Danny, causing him to disappear.

The Danny that stayed behind fired an ecto blast at the broadsword, destroying the weapon. Then the two other Dannies tackled Pariah Dark form opposite sides. Pariah Dark punched one of the Dannies that attacked him, and it disappeared. The other Danny took a deep breath and used the ghostly wail. The ghost king flew backwards from the sonic onslaught and the Danny that attacked him disappeared, leaving only the original.

Danny then flew and punched Pariah Dark. The ghost king backhanded him and Danny flew away. He then countered with an ecto blast that hit its mark. Danny then took a deep breath and unleashed his ghostly wail.

When the acoustic assault faded, both Danny and Pariah Dark were on their knees, clearly exhausted. Danny checked the display on his right hand, and saw that the frame was at 39 capacity. He then used his power pack to restore his powers.

Danny charged the ghost king and uppercutted him upward, then blasted him while in midair. When Pariah Dark hit the floor, he was unconscious. Danny dragged the knocked out ghost king to the sarcafacus of forever sleep and put him inside.

"you'll need this," a voice said behind Danny. When he turned around he saw princess Dora holding some kind of key. She placed the key into the coffin and turned, locking Pariah Dark inside once again.

"What was that?" Danny asked, referring to the key Dora just used.

"The skeleton key," she said, "a mystic object with the power to unlock any door or free any prisoner."

"Where did you get it.?"

"From the Fright Knight. Shortly after you went to face the ghost king, your friends from the human world arrived and with their help, we were able to defeat the Fright Knight and found the key with him. I recognized it and came here to use it when the time was right."

"Where is the Fright Knight now?"

"Walker took the Fright Knight back to his jail, where the ebon warrior is awaiting execution for releasing Pariah Dark."

_I don't like the idea of killing, and I especially don't like Walker _Danny thought, _but I'm going to stop him from executing the Fright Knight._

"Dora," Danny said, "Can you keep the skeleton key?."

"For safe keeping?" Dora asked, and Danny nodded yes.

Danny came out of Pariah's keep and saw his friends and family. Everyone was jubilant at defeating the ghost king. And with Dora looking after the skeleton key, it was extremely unlikely that he would ever get out again.

Author's notes: that's the end. If any of you out there could give me ideas for a possible sequel or even just some general writing tips, it would be greatly appreciated.


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